“Your majesty, here are the document you’ve asked.”

“I told you to call me call me Alessa.” She went by this name to honor the one who had sacrificed and life and body for her.

Despite her strong interest in the null attribute and the multiple, the urgency of the situation didn’t leave her with enough time to research it. She had to first impart her knowledge to her new disciple, learn of the current world politics, and above all make allies.

Even so, as soon as she had learned of detail of the ritual used to bring her back, she had known the null attribute would be key into defeating the legions of wights raised by the foolish youth.

Abner, her dear old friend, wasn’t a Genius like the other lord, but he more than made up for it with his hard work. The multiples weren’t a thing during her time, same the null element. To begin with, it wasn’t like the attributes were understood, they had suddenly appeared in six separate regions of the continent and those who had them quickly rose to power.

Even stranger, despite having no physiological difference, there were some like her and Abner whose life-span was many times longer than normal people. These individuals fought for – or in hers and Abner’s cases, were elevated to – power.

In those were tumultuous time, peaceful contact between people of different countries was almost unheard of, but it had not been the case for a long time now. She suspected these contacts of intimate nature were the origin of the multiple. It had long been proved that even if only a few could manifest them, attributes were present in every single person. The reason why some could and some couldn’t, was still unknown. However, there was no doubt in her mind that the mingling of different population was the reason for the multiple as suggested by the fact they were the most common in Aether – the life lord’s ancient territory – and northern Hades – the two places that had welcomed refugees of war from other kingdoms during her time.

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“Maximilian?” Asked the death lord.

“What is it your… Alessa?”

“The technique used by Abner to redirect the energy released by the null element into my revival… how many people are left who can use it?”

“Four, my lady. It isn’t that we lost any, but it is an ability limited only to those who can use the null element.”

“I see.” Mage were uncommon to begin with, multiple even more, and then only a subset of those could use the null element. “We’ll need more than this. If something happens… or rather, when something happens to that necromancer king, we’ll have two methods in front of us. Meet the wights with strength, or erase the spell that binds them to this world.”

“We are few, far from being any army, but I assure you we’re all ready to give up our life for the cause, my lady.”

“I’d rather you and the others weren’t so ready to die. Still, confronted with those numbers, I understand why you have little hopes.” She had sent a letter to the youth, hopefully he’d stop increasing their numbers, but there was little chance of him actively cutting them. From what she’d read about him, he was a man with a mission, just as fanatical about it than the people around her. Her missive was a dangerous gamble; at best she’d have given them some time by making him ponders about a way to ascertain better control on his creations, at worst, she’d made him rush his invasion.

She asked. “Do you think it’s possible for the church of the elements to enter talks with me? Their rejection of Abner after his transformation was very definite.”

“I cannot say, my lady. The church of the element is not the army of the light. We know them to employ death mages, although not openly. We haven’t been able to place a spy in their core, but their true tenet is to maintain harmony between the six attributes and cure the scares of the great war. They might not accept our methods, but they probably won’t reject our help and knowledge.”

“You make it sounds like they’re more trustworthy than our own neighbors.”

“It wasn’t my intention, my lady, although now that you mention it, it might be the case. Our friends in the north have long functioned like rebels in their own country… and old hatreds die hard.”

“Not too hard, I hope. Even without fighting amongst ourselves, there will be enough conflict to satiate everyone.”

“I do hope so, my lady. I really do.”